An interview with Givens Books
Biblio checks in with Givens Books to learn more about their book business, collecting interests and more! To view and shop their inventory, click here.
When did you get started in bookselling?
Givens Books and Little Dickens has been operating under that title, and in the current location, since 1999. The original bookstore, Boonshire Books, was originally founded by George and Sylvia Givens in 1976, with the founder's son, Danny, beginning a toy store in 1989. Danny took over operation of both businesses during the 1999 relocation. My name is Abby and I am the current Used Book Manager for the store. I have been here since the beginning of 2022.
What drew you to bookselling?
(Abby, Used Book Manager): I was one of those kids who found the local library's limit on how many books could be checked out at once. I also grew up in a house that was filled with antique furniture and books from my grandmother, and loved so many of them. When I heard that the used book position was open at the best bookstore in the city, I jumped at the chance! And it has been a wonderful two years so far, and, as Anne of Green Gables might say: wild horses could not drag me from this place.
What is your favorite part of being a bookseller?
(Abby, Used Book Manager): The joy on a customer's face when I am able to connect them with a book that they have been searching for!
What do you personally like to read? Collect?
(Abby, Used Book Manager) I enjoy mostly fiction (fantasy, romance, mystery), but about 1/4th of what I read is eclectic non-fiction. Books about the history of pockets or cobalt mining or marriage practices in medieval Europe are the type that I grab to buy for myself when they come through.
What's your favorite book you personally own? Would you sell it, if the price were right?
(Abby, Used Book Manager) my favorite book is a 1920s wildflower guide book that belonged to my grandmother and when I inherited it, it has flowers and leaves pressed between the pages. I would not sell it.
What one book would you buy if price were no object?
(Abby, Used Book Manager): The Peacock Edition of Pride and Prejudice
If you were stranded on a desert island and could bring three books, what would they be?
(Abby, Used Book Manager): Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, Swordheart by T. Kingfisher, and Anne of the Island by L. M. Montgomery